Snarking On A Tropical Becker Island

Status
Not open for further replies.
Hey, how ya doin worldwood? Going to take up a wrench, eh? That ought to take some homework! That Lycan is such a cute little puppy next to his big, older, brother Battle. :D
 
Happy early Fathers Day gents.

My oldest daughter and son in law helped a friend move bags of concrete to his house on the North Shore.

It’s only accessible by boat or helicopter. The last pic is of their friends house.

Looks like they had fun!

C2FDD906-986C-425F-8996-FC30B33FBC2D.jpeg BC5330D6-A0C3-4246-8622-85D6CDB76E0A.jpeg 9B11E90E-708D-4340-80E2-5578A19C4261.jpeg 47C28377-63DE-430D-A365-FAE0184BAEB5.jpeg
 
HAH!!! I am no longer the unhappy possessor of 1800+ pounds of DDT, Arsenic, Arsenic/Sulfur, DDT/Sulfur and Ammonium Nitrate. This was all left over "cotton dust", "cotton poison", whatever you want to call it - for treating cotton for boll weevils, thrips, other cotton pests.

This stuff was all left from 1967, the last year my grandfather raised cotton. Right after that growing season, he was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Shortly after his last radiation treatment, he had a stroke. His friends and neighbors planted and harvested a crop for him in 1968, but none of it was cotton, just wheat, maize and corn. So his cotton dust pile just stayed in the shed.

In 2007, the Bush Ag department started up a program to purge all the old ag hazmat material that new farm and ranch owners were finding on their property after they inherited or bought and old farm or ranch. I took advantage of several "dump days" during 2007 and 2008, getting rid of a couple of tons of DDT, Arsenic, Chlordane, Lindane, Aldrin, Dieldrin, Heptachlor, Toxaphene, Sodium Chlorate in bags, barrels, bottles, and cans but still had 1 last load.

There was another dump day scheduled for the local area for March 2009, but right after Obama took office, his Ag Department shut the program down "to save money". My last pile of poison has sat in a shed with the containers deteriorating and rusting for the last 10 years.

Last week Thursday, I learned that a dump day was finally being scheduled, but it was going to be nearly 100 miles from me. But I wanted it out of here. I spent the last week dressing up in bunny suits with gauntlet rubber cloves, a respirator and splash goggles. I would work every day until I nearly passed out shoveling (because the bags had weakened to the point falling apart) the dust into 70 qt plastic tubs. Unsuit, cool off, rehydrate, resuit up in new suits and go to it again.

I ended up with 24 tubs with 70# to 80# each full of .......... plus a couple of tubs of bunny suits, gloves, respirator filters and some empty 55 gallon drums that used to have all kinds of crap in them.

I filled up a pickup bed and a 16 foot flatbed trailer with the tubs and barrels Wednesday afternoon. 0600 Thursday morning, I took off for the dump day. 2 hours later, I arrived to find myself 1st in line.

Apparently, my Ag Agent had told all the rest of the county agents there that he had a guy bringing a load of "the reason we are holding these collection days". The agents all came over to look at my load.

Most of them had never even seen what DDT (a gray powder) or TriCalcium Arsenate (pink powder) looked or smelled like - yes every poison has its own unique odor - an unfortunately, from experience, I can identify nearly all of them by smell. Since I used clear plastic tubs, the agents could look at the various powders and remnants of the bag labels.

All I have left now is about a tub and a half of detritus to sweep up and a 30 gallon barrel of "something" that no one can identify based on the little info on the barrel - just the letters "S-1". I am assuming it is a cotton pesticide of some sort since it was in the corner of the shed with all the other poisons, but even 2 Professors Emeriti from Texas A&M University's renowned cotton development have no clue what it is.

Just have to hope they have another dump day soon.

But all that crap is GONE. :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
 
That was quite the assortment of some crazy stuff! Heptachlor is still heavily laced into soils here from pineapple days. Crops like cucumbers can’t be grown in it due to it relocating in them.

Just recently Lorsban was banned last December. I still have to find a way to get rid of it....luckily I only have a few gallons...
 
MolokaiRider said:
That was quite the assortment of some crazy stuff! Heptachlor is still heavily laced into soils here from pineapple days. Crops like cucumbers can’t be grown in it due to it relocating in them.

Just recently Lorsban was banned last December. I still have to find a way to get rid of it....luckily I only have a few gallons...
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if Hawaii has a traditional County Ag Agent system setup or something else, but they're bound to have some set up for asking Ag questions. If a pesticide has been banned, the state Ag Dept at least has info on how to dispose any you have on hand.
 
zzyzzogeton said:
HAH!!! I am no longer the unhappy possessor of 1800+ pounds of DDT, Arsenic, Arsenic/Sulfur, DDT/Sulfur and Ammonium Nitrate. This was all left over "cotton dust", "cotton poison", whatever you want to call it - for treating cotton for boll weevils, thrips, other cotton pests.

This stuff was all left from 1967, the last year my grandfather raised cotton. Right after that growing season, he was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Shortly after his last radiation treatment, he had a stroke. His friends and neighbors planted and harvested a crop for him in 1968, but none of it was cotton, just wheat, maize and corn. So his cotton dust pile just stayed in the shed.

In 2007, the Bush Ag department started up a program to purge all the old ag hazmat material that new farm and ranch owners were finding on their property after they inherited or bought and old farm or ranch. I took advantage of several "dump days" during 2007 and 2008, getting rid of a couple of tons of DDT, Arsenic, Chlordane, Lindane, Aldrin, Dieldrin, Heptachlor, Toxaphene, Sodium Chlorate in bags, barrels, bottles, and cans but still had 1 last load.

There was another dump day scheduled for the local area for March 2009, but right after Obama took office, his Ag Department shut the program down "to save money". My last pile of poison has sat in a shed with the containers deteriorating and rusting for the last 10 years.

Last week Thursday, I learned that a dump day was finally being scheduled, but it was going to be nearly 100 miles from me. But I wanted it out of here. I spent the last week dressing up in bunny suits with gauntlet rubber cloves, a respirator and splash goggles. I would work every day until I nearly passed out shoveling (because the bags had weakened to the point falling apart) the dust into 70 qt plastic tubs. Unsuit, cool off, rehydrate, resuit up in new suits and go to it again.

I ended up with 24 tubs with 70# to 80# each full of .......... plus a couple of tubs of bunny suits, gloves, respirator filters and some empty 55 gallon drums that used to have all kinds of crap in them.

I filled up a pickup bed and a 16 foot flatbed trailer with the tubs and barrels Wednesday afternoon. 0600 Thursday morning, I took off for the dump day. 2 hours later, I arrived to find myself 1st in line.

Apparently, my Ag Agent had told all the rest of the county agents there that he had a guy bringing a load of "the reason we are holding these collection days". The agents all came over to look at my load.

Most of them had never even seen what DDT (a gray powder) or TriCalcium Arsenate (pink powder) looked or smelled like - yes every poison has its own unique odor - an unfortunately, from experience, I can identify nearly all of them by smell. Since I used clear plastic tubs, the agents could look at the various powders and remnants of the bag labels.

All I have left now is about a tub and a half of detritus to sweep up and a 30 gallon barrel of "something" that no one can identify based on the little info on the barrel - just the letters "S-1". I am assuming it is a cotton pesticide of some sort since it was in the corner of the shed with all the other poisons, but even 2 Professors Emeriti from Texas A&M University's renowned cotton development have no clue what it is.

Just have to hope they have another dump day soon.

But all that crap is GONE. :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
Click to expand...
Congratulations zzy. A whole lot of effort but well worth it. I might have saved the ammonium nitrate for...Prairie dogs and such:D
 
Tanker 1/66 said:
Congratulations zzy. A whole lot of effort but well worth it. I might have saved the ammonium nitrate for...Prairie dogs and such:D
Click to expand...

I would have kept the ammonium nitrate for fertilizer, but it was contaminated with arsenic and DDT. There was only about 100# of it - 1 full sack and a deteriorated sack. It was left over from when my grandfather used it to blow up large tree stumps back in the day... when you could just walk in to a hardware store and walk out with a box of blasting caps.

Back when no one had big bulldozers, they would take a brace & bit, drill several 1" to 1-1/2" holes into the stump, tightly pack the holes with the NH4NO3, pour diesel into the holes several times to soak it well, repack it tight, stick a blasting cap in each hole, then run the wires back A VERY LONG way, hook it to a detonator and "boom", tooth picks everywhere. It was a lot easier to shovel dirt back in a hole than it was to dig the stump out by hand.

How many kids can say they got to blow up tree stumps as a 6 y.o? :D:D
 
Back in September I decided to try to combine uni with my daytime job. I might have underestimated that. Exams are tough. Two more to go (tomorrow and Saturday), and it all begins again in September. I hope to finish it successfully next July cuz damn...
It was a whole different ballgame when I was a full-time student. Trying to combine it with work is kinda, well... My gf and I do laugh about it a lot because I just saw this degree at my old uni's FB page and was like 'yeah I'll try that' and one week later I was enrolled. I didn't really think it through.
 
And when I'm distracted I take pictures and put them on the internet (usually Instagram)

pi6ZS9N.jpg
 
Spent Saturday fishing with my son... Technically there were about 12 of us, But everyone else was in a big pontoon boat and my son and I were in my boat.

Sunday taught him to clean fish. He's 10, and lately he's been real into survival shows, survival gear, and hunting and fishing... Surprised me when he asked me to teach him to clean fish... I happily obliged LOL.

The boy can tie his own hooks on, bait them, remove fish and everything. Even throws a cast net better than me. Makes fishing with him even more fun since i don't have to spend the whole day helping him.

Made for a great father's day weekend.
 
worldwood said:
Spent Saturday fishing with my son... Technically there were about 12 of us, But everyone else was in a big pontoon boat and my son and I were in my boat.

Sunday taught him to clean fish. He's 10, and lately he's been real into survival shows, survival gear, and hunting and fishing... Surprised me when he asked me to teach him to clean fish... I happily obliged LOL.

The boy can tie his own hooks on, bait them, remove fish and everything. Even throws a cast net better than me. Makes fishing with him even more fun since i don't have to spend the whole day helping him.

Made for a great father's day weekend.
Click to expand...
Awesome man. I wish I could have been with my son on Father's Day. He was just telling me he wants to go fishing when he comes back to visit.
 
worldwood said:
Spent Saturday fishing with my son... Technically there were about 12 of us, But everyone else was in a big pontoon boat and my son and I were in my boat.

Sunday taught him to clean fish. He's 10, and lately he's been real into survival shows, survival gear, and hunting and fishing... Surprised me when he asked me to teach him to clean fish... I happily obliged LOL.

The boy can tie his own hooks on, bait them, remove fish and everything. Even throws a cast net better than me. Makes fishing with him even more fun since i don't have to spend the whole day helping him.

Made for a great father's day weekend.
Click to expand...
Good stuff Woody. I love that age, when they’re like a sponge for information. Sounds like an awesome day out on the water.
 
1066vik said:
There's an instant Becker collection for sale on the exchange.
4, 10, 12, 16
Click to expand...
Snagged the 4 yesterday :)
7,10,12,16 still available i believe.
If i didnt have a 12 already i’d pick that one up for sure, great deal on that. Wow, just checked knifeworks and it looks like they arent making them anymore :eek:.
Usually when they are inbetween batches it says “out of stock” but the product page isnt even there!
That 7 looks interesting as well.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top